Your Words, They Changed Me
by joyofrediscoveringyou
Summary: An expression could define his life's most precious moments – and of course it had to be created by her. Little Finchel two-shot, AU. Complete
1. Chapter 1

Little story, Epilogue will follow soon. Enjoy.

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Your Words, They Changed Me.

Her defining expression was seldom uttered in moments when the universe aligned itself into life-changing scenarios somehow always revolving around her. The sheer linguistic nuances concentrated within the phrase's core could leave any human mind, no matter how educated or verbose, a mere blank slate. Finn Hudson had been victim to its whirlwind nature many a time and for as long as he lived he would forever remember in his very soul his love for her.

Finn and Carole Hudson had lived a joyfully simple life for many a year in their small Irish cottage, herding sheep and resigned to died unremembered and plain. Christopher Hudson had always taken care of them, even in trying times their family had stood the tests throw carelessly by life. Living under this notion, the Hudson family was unable to foresee the bleak future ahead, the one they could not possibly survive without their caretaker. Christopher died on a very normal day, the skies gray and temperature simply average. He had gone to town to sell wool for some eggs, when he had spotted from afar how two burly men forcibly pushed an innocent girl to an alley. Not thinking once, Christopher rushed to help her as he had always been the kind of man who put others safety before his – even for strangers. Details as to how the fight ensued evaded him, or how those thugs got a pistol he'd never know. He only knew the tear-covered story the girl had told, able to free herself from sure abuse and murder thanks to Christopher's interruption. Unfortunately, she couldn't save him so he would forever lay deep in the ground, his soul and blood marking the spot where they left his body on the pavement of some Irish pavement.

Depressed, his mother neglected her duties and Finn could not dwell with the woman's sadness and keeping a roof above their heads. Many nights they starved and many nights they simply fainted either from hunger or from crying so much their tear ducts throbbed in pain. A year passed unnoticed and the sun rose for the Hudson family. His cousin Rory had been sent to them for help, managing to get back their income with relentless optimism and hope for the future in his heart. He slowly healed Finn and Carole with his good heart; soon making them preform their responsibilities again in the most efficient manner they ever had. It was 1927 and all was swell.

Unsuspectingly, Finn started to become plagued by _ennui_ after redoing every repetitive task every hour, every day. While he never knew better, couldn't even read or write, the pulsating erratic rhythm of his heart spoke to him of new possibilities, of greatness to be achieved. His essence ached to be a man his father would have been proud of, a man who would also give his life to save the honor of an unknown lady. It scared him to say, he wasn't sure he would too. How would he become a man when he had not lived? His father had been to the Great War, he experienced being put to the test. Not really wanting to fight (he could never murder anyone) he knew the next best thing to go: go to America.  
His mom did not take it well. He loathed seeing tears flowing faster and more profusely than when his _father_ died. He felt as if the seams that held the woman that bore him together had snapped explosively under the excruciating pain in her heart. She did not cry because she did not want him to leave her, if that were the case his sanity would be intact. She cried because she knew him to be right, sobbed because she knew him to be better. She cried because she could never have that, and it hurt. His cousin was to stay; as he was the youngest of six there was no place for him at the farm, so he'd be happy to take over. Rory says he cherishes the simple life, that he wishes to marry and construct a peaceful life with a woman on his side and children in his heart. He envies Rory. He does.. He wishes he could want that but he doesn't so he has to leave.  
Finn knows that most who go do not come back, contact is inefficient and expensive and the only phone in town would not suffice. The hardest thing to do was to say goodbye knowing he probably will never say hello again.

Opportunity was a coy lady who did not like to be found. After weeks of travel in a less than reputable vessel, cramped and crowded, America had been not much of a consolation. He had some resources to survive yet not enough to live. He wandered around, doing any job he could yet those were as hard to find as the secluded patches of grass he slept in. One day, walking by a mansion in the West Egg he heard something almost forgotten to him – laughter and plenty of it. Some of the tycoons that lived in these mansions were having a true, roaring party. Finn listened to the sound and followed cautiously, remaining in the shadows – or as much as he could with his tall frame. He found the house, or should he say palace?

An enormous crystalline pool glistened under the moonlight, while white-clad waiters scattered around like ants to ensure the satisfaction of each and every attendant. The house was styled after a luxurious Roman villa, pure open spaces and white marble columns. The garden landscaped in homage of the landscaping craze of the 1800s. Attendants, all of them beautiful, glided through the space with dashing smiles and twinkling eyes. Finn would usually scatter, knowing his place in life not to be there. But he hadn't eaten in over a week, could barely walk anymore and was thus desperately bent on surviving. He sat against a bush and hid there, waiting for the morning to come. Then, he could scavenge outside in hopes some of the food in the party would be thrown away.

He didn't count on his exhaustion being so severe the sun up in the sky could do nothing but heat his skin since it could not wake him up. What could though was the gentle shake of his shoulder, feeling initially like a deep wave in his passed-out mind that slowly tugged him to reality.

"Excuse me? "  
"Huh?"  
He opened his eyes only to be immediately blinded. Not by the sun or daylight but by most beautiful eyes ever to glance his petty self. They shone in their own right. Actually, they sparkled not shone, yet each twinkle was a sun in its own right. She had short, bobbed brunette hair and the most delicate tanned skin he had ever seen. She was clad in a white dress and golden jewelry that only added to her natural glow.

"Why are you sleeping against my bush?"  
Finn widened his eyes, _ oh no, _she could call the authorities and in his condition he would only survive a day in jail, if he were to be that lucky.  
"I'm sorry miss, I- please be so kind as to not contact the police, I must have fainted. I can assure you, you will not ever have to see me again, please."  
She laughed, an airy chuckle that caressed the air around her. "And why would I want that? Oh no, quite the contrary. What's your name?"  
"F-Finn, Hudson. Finn Hudson."  
"Well Mr. Hudson. My name is Rachel St. James. I'll tell you how I came upon to your location. I was supervising my flowers – they have to be immaculate, you know? And discovered my gardener seducing one of my guests. You see, I'm out of a gardener and you just appeared! The fates brought you to me. Want to be my gardener, Irish-boy?"  
"Miss… I… do you mean it?"  
"Oh, quite. You see, my father always taught me to help others that could not have the privileges I had in life. Oftentimes we hired very poor people until they got back on their feet, and I wish to do that with you too."

For Finn, the line about her father felt as if someone was attempting to electrify his veins. She was like him just in a different social condition, trying to honour their father's teachings. She was an angel to him, one sent by his father to save him in times of need.  
"It'd be my honour"  
"Oh Darling, Darling" she breathed, "It will be mine."

Finn was speechless. _Darling, Darling. _ She said it by emphasizing the "a" in the first darling, with an airy sigh but not in the following one. To compensate, she softly rolled the "r" in the second _darling_, distinguishing infinitely them both. As if it were a title meant with such fondness that it deserved to be said twice. An ethereal example against the closet thing he can imagine having the same format; Officer Officer. A little lowering at the end of each word though contained a broken dream, indicating the most beautiful expression could be tainted. He saw her a tainted by disappointment or sadness as it swept into her innocent expression. One phrase and Finn felt forever bound to the girl with sparkly eyes.

Shortly after his arrival in the servant's area of the St. James mansion, he met a fellow worker by the name of Noah. He too had been profited from Rachel's kindness and it made him admire her more. While he slowly recovered his strength, Noah would tell him all there was to know about the employers they owed their lives to.  
Jesse St. James came from a very important family, one of those that could trace back its ancestry as far as America had existed. He knew everyone worth knowing and his investments and properties provided him with complete financial security. Even to the extent he had been a singer/actor for some time. That's how he met Rachel Berry. She too came from a wealthy family, high enough in the social scale to be important yet not enough to match Jesse's fortune. They fell in love for the music and decided to retire early, to have a family and simply live life with each other.  
Finn will never admit the story of the couple hurt more than he'd like, somehow he had been hoping there was a chance in heaven he could have Rachel even if he knew she would never again glance her way.

His predictions were wrong, for as soon as Finn recovered he took over the gardening duties, which were supervised by Rachel herself. The beauty really had an obsession with the state of her plants, often talking to them kindly as if they were precious little children. Finn found it adorable, he thought it was amazing how despite growing up in an environment riddled with conventions her spirit remained as free as the wind. As lady-like as she was, it could not be denied that she never hid herself. Her nose would crinkle while she threw her head back as she laughed rather than giggling softly. Her eyes watered with love whenever a flowed blossomed and she allowed her hair to tangle between some leaves. Her behavior was impeccable yet still left room for a healthy zest for life.

The first time he met Jesse St. James we could define one thing and one thing only about this man: his life had peaked too early in life and now nothing he could be would be better. Thus, he seemed harsh and bitter, even resentful within the first minutes he saw him converse with Rachel. Of course, Finn was promptly ignored as he cut some leaves while he distracted his wife. He could feel no love or endearment towards the woman nodding softly at his words only a sense of possessiveness towards her. He strode off and he glanced up towards her. She was just lost. Her eyes looked some indefinite point in the horizon, frozen along with her entire body. Concerned, Finn shook her softly.

"He's cheating on me Finn, I know it."  
"Ms. St. James, why would you say that?"  
"He treats me so differently now and… he's always leaving perfectly coiffed yet returns with his hair and clothes unruly."  
"May he be engaging in exercise Ms?"  
"Oh I'd say, of the physical kind."  
Finn frowns. "Ms. Should I ask your maid to call a friend of yours? If I may say so without offense, you look like you might need company."  
Rachel shook her head stiffly. "No. I have no friends, at least not any who would not happily divulge the rumour. Darling Finn, I am alone. Would you accompany me?"  
"I- "

"I believe we have an iron bench behind the cedar? I, I want to sit there. Would you please seat with me?"  
"How could I deny the woman that saved my life?"

They first sit there silently, eyes fixed on the roses on the other side of the yard while Rachel gets her breathing under control.  
"Finn, do you believe in fate?"  
"I don't know. Something happen at the right time, and when they do it's great, but I'd like to think of it as a very welcome gift."  
"I used to, you know? Believe in fate. I believed that I was a good person that if I followed my heart a wave of wonder would sweep me to my happy ending. Silly, I know. I thought it was fate to meet Jesse, oh him and I! We were wonderfully similar and oh so dramatic. I thought marrying him, even abandoning the calling of my soul, was right. Right because love is above all. Do you follow?"  
"I think so." Finn waited for her to get to the point, but slowly felt little pieces of his heart decomposing slowly and falling off like flakes into his hollow chest. Her voice radiated sadness and worst, tiredness. Tiredness of life, and this shiny angel should only feel the purest joy.

"But Finn, trust me I am sure he if unfaithful to me. He doesn't even look my way with lazy desire anymore, despite the fact we're trying to have a family. When I kiss him he looks _guilty_, Guilty for his lover, not I. So how can I think it was fate? And, if it was, is my fate to rot away in that house while my honor shatters more each day? What did I do?"

Until her last question, Finn had only left gut-wrenching pain consume him for the pain she was expressing. However, an overwhelming need to protect and defend her electrified him into jumping up suddenly. Rachel looked at him with wide eyes as he knelt in front of her, making direct eye contact.  
"Ms. St. James. R…Rachel. Please, don't ever say that. If there were one proof that were to convince me fate exists it would be you. Had it not been for your generous heart I would have probably starved a couple of days after you found me. Because of you I live and breathe, and I am forever in your debt."

Her tears started to overflow her eyes and slide down her delicate cheeks, the first ones to appear despite her thinking her husband was cheating.  
"Look, I know for now you cannot feel that way without confirmation. It could be many things Mr. St. James could be doing, including shady business, which as terrible as it may be, is not infidelity. So confirm it first."  
Rachel finally spoke "and if he is?"  
"I'm not sure. But how could he be cheating on you? You're the most wonderful woman on this earth. If I were lucky enough to have a woman like you, I'd wake up every single day trying to be better for her, only to be worthy of her love."  
Rachel flung himself at him, grasping him tightly in a hug. "Oh Darling Darling!"

After she calmed herself down, Rachel asked Finn if he could help her discover her husband. Any of her servants would tell him and she felt she could trust him. She couldn't do it alone and needed him, he didn't refuse. To her? He couldn't.

One day they set on foot to follow Jesse and then saw him drive off. Thankfully, Rachel knew how to drive. It wasn't customary yet her father had taught her how to in case some emergency ever happened she could mobilize the person to get help. They followed him in one of the many cars he owned at a safe distance. After time rolled by towards its unknown destination, they arrived to a non-descript neighborhood. They saw him walk up the stairs of a building and decided to follow, Rachel's heart hoping with each thump for Jesse to be in an underground bootleg rather than cheating on her.

Her hopes were destroyed when they discovered Jesse. The door was somehow unlocked and they discovered the man in question passionately kissing another man. This was beyond either of them expected. Rachel did feel betrayed but even more so like a fool. If he preferred men, she had no problem. But she had been deceived and played into his ruse so he could live a secret life. Rachel Berry, a mere accessory to the fear of Jesse St. James. In panic, he told her he would do anything for her never to mention this. Event though he was richer and more influential than her, even a rumor by the biggest liar of such a situation and his reputation would be forever tarnished. He agreed to divorce her – to set her free with her whole fortune to take on her life. A divorce would give him a bad reputation, but none he could not get over. She asked for the house too, he gave it willingly. After all, he had many all around the nation and beyond.

Only back in the car did she let herself unwind. Finn sat frozen until he could no more, so he hugged her, ignoring his place in life to console his own darling. As the days passed, all servants were fired except for those who Rachel had selected herself. She compensated the ones she let go generously. Every day she went to the garden with Finn and simply talked. She talked of her pain, of her hopes. Of needing to start anew, to be reborn like the phoenix she wanted to be. During these prolonged talks they became closer. She would need his support by clasping one of his hands between hers. She would dissolve in tears oh his shoulders and grip his forearm to feel he's solid. When she'd leave, she'd thank him with a soft kiss on the cheek. In those moments, for the first time in his life, he felt special, deserving and worthwhile and it was blissful.

After a couple of months, her cheery disposition slowly returned. More often than not, their talks would revolve around happier topics. She was fascinated by his stories of living in the countryside of Ireland and he was mesmerized by her voice when she sang. She still held his hand and used his shoulders, only this time to indicate her content. One day, out of the blue, she asked.

"Finn, do you remember how you said that if you could find a woman like me, you'd forever want to be worth it for her?"  
"Yes, and I still mean it."  
"That's awfully sweet, but… do you think I deserve such a thing?"  
"More than anyone."  
"Then come with me, darling."  
"Where? Anywhere? To Washington? Philadelphia?"  
She let out all the air in her lungs. "A bit further, dearest Finn. To London?"  
"Y-you, you want me to follow you to London? Are you moving there? Are you going have a garden there too?"  
She chuckled "No, you precious man. While I could return to the theatres here I just need to be somewhere new. Where I can be myself with my history following me. And, well, London has an excellent theatre district. My old teacher, William, has been living there for years. He wrote a play and wants me to be the lead. I said yes."  
"Rachel that's fantastic! You deserve this more than anyone in this earth. But wait, so you're going to need a gardener then?"  
"Well yes, but no. I mean, I don't want you to come as my gardener. I want for you to take me as your _her. _ If it weren't for you, I would have not gotten out of a terrible marriage to have a new chance. Without you I wouldn't have healed so fast. Because, as much as I thought I loved Jesse I realized there was not much to heal because half of it was just in my head. Because I care for you, have since I saw you sleeping against my garden and it's a care stronger than the supposed love I felt for Jesse."

Finn has his eyes locked on her sparkly ones, making sure she means this because she can't possibly do. She's much better than him; she could have the world at her fingertips.

"Finn, I want to be her for you. I want to be that woman you love so much because it sounds like you'd make her very happy. So I want to be your woman… if you want to?"  
With a smile, he grasped her hand and simply said "You already are."  
"Oh Darling, Darling!" she closed the distance between their lips and introduced him to heaven.

The first time he heard "_oh Darling Darling!" _she had given him a chance to life. The second time, her life was the one in pieces. The third however? It had irrevocably joined their lives together.


	2. Epilogue

_Here's the epilogue, hope you enjoyed._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Glee  
_

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Those were the first three, but not last times he ever heard those words. Shortly after, they packed her belongings and sailed across the channel again. Noah had been left as user and caretaker of the New York house, to be used at his heart's desire as long as he kept it pristine. He said he would do it for free, he knew how to do the cleaning. They sailed one October day and at her insistence, they had gone to his cottage to meet his family. His discomfort as to what she'd think of his pathetic little cottage dissipated as soon as he saw his mom. In that moment, he felt so ecstatic he feared the next second because it might end. Rachel and him stayed there for a month, in which she fell in love with Carole and Rory. Rory had gotten himself a girl, and was hoping to marry her yet did not have enough money. Rachel, being the angel she is, insisted Carole come to live with them in London. She only convinced the woman when she said she was the only mother figure she'd ever had. Rory and his girl could move in and though they refused monetary help, accepted gladly her open invitation for an all-paid visit. Finn was gob smacked the woman he loved not only saved him, but his family too. It only increased his incentive to make her the happiest woman on earth.

They moved to London and stayed three blissful years where Rachel's fame catapulted her into stardom. His mother met Burt Hummel, an old friend of Rachel's dad and they moved to America too, to be with Burt's son Kurt. They returned to New York soon after, Rachel could no longer ignore the Broadway offers from the city closest to her heart. When he dropped to one knee the night of her closing night, she only nodded tearfully, putting her hands around his shoulders, whispering "Oh Darling, Darling!". At that moment, he finally feels worth of being his father's son, because he had created a love with her so strong it made him a better person.  
When their son and daughter came into this world, she heard her say it again. Once again when he took her to London after twenty years of marriage, to relive the start of her life and their relationship. They fortified the love they had for each other, even if they thought it was not possible as it already grew exponentially each passing day, every new challenge. As they kissed in the theatre he proposed in, he said:  
"Rachel. Every day I wake and wonder how do I deserve you? How can I make you happier? Because that's impossible. You make me so, so incredibly happy I can only hope to compare. I wanted to come back to tell you again that I want to spend my life with you, because the portion of it we already did? Amazing"

She rewarded him by saying her phrase yet again.

When the doctors told her she was sick, her hair was fully white. Still shiny, lengthy and thick yet a soft hue of gray that accompanied the gentle wrinkles of her still beautiful face. There was not much they could do; it would be a couple of months. Finn did everything for her, each day. From taking her places, to making sure she felt loved. He'd sit with her every night, repeating "baby, I love you so much. You must go but you were always loved. Always" over and over again. One day, he was reading to her one of her favorite books when she grasped his hand. She looked into his eyes and smiled, the Rachel Hudson-Berry smile that could make the sun shy away in shame. She grabbed his hand, looking for the last time into his eyes as the twinkles slowly dwindled away "Oh, Darling, Darling!". She closed her eyes and left him.

Every time he had heard that phrase, it had marked the end of something. Of his pain, of her marriage, of her life alone, of her pregnancies and finally, her doubts she wasn't enough for him. Now? It was the start of something, a promise that their forever was just slightly interrupted. That they'll reunite for sure and in the meantime could only continue to allow their love to expand, for their tether was stronger than anything, even death. He kissed her head softly, expecting her to fulfill her promise, because he knew she never promised that which she could not accomplish. He could trust her, so he would wait. And that phrase? He's sure it will be the first thing she'll say when they reunite.


End file.
